Linda Hernandez Duran

James Cook University · Science and Engineering

Mygalomorph venom properties and active components, which have importance in medicine, agronomy, ven-omics, ecology and evolution, have been widely studied, but only a small fraction have been characterised. Several studies have shown inter-individual variation in the composition of venom peptides based on ontogeny, sexual dimorphism, season and di...

Spiders are useful models for testing different hypotheses and methodologies relating to animal personality and behavioral syndromes because they show a range of behavioral types and unique physiological traits (e.g., silk and venom) that are not observed in many other animals. These characteristics allow for a unique understanding of how physiolog...

Atrax robustus is an iconic Australian spider because the venom can be lethal to humans. Moreover, some of the venom biomolecules have promise as therapeutic and bioinsecticidal leads. Nonetheless, aspects related to the life history and behaviour of this species, which might influence changes in venom components, have been overlooked. We assessed...

Australian funnel-web spiders are arguably the most venomous spiders in the world, with much research focusing on this aspect of their biology. However, other aspects related to their life history, ecology and behaviour have been overlooked. For the first time, we assessed repeatability, namely risk-taking behaviour, aggressiveness and activity in...

Male and female genital morphology may have strong effects on fitness in spiders. Females of some species of Leucauge produce mating plugs that partially or totally block the entrances to their insemination ducts on the epigynum, forming barriers that reduce the probabilities of future inseminations. While in some species both females and males par...

Abstract.—The gastropod family Strombidae has sparked the recent interest of taxonomists as early revisions of the family are re-examined, with a plethora of new species and genera being described. This has brought a greater understanding of the level of diversity within the family, which has assisted in conceptualizing its evolutionary intergeneri...

A definition for differing terminal taxa in nomenclature is needed to make them practically relevant. The International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature (1999) provides for two levels: species and subspecies. At present species and subspecies are used interchangeably and arbitrarily. We examine both concepts, with a focus on practical applicati...

Canarium labiatum is a small gastropod of the Strombidae family that is commonly encountered in the inter-tidal zones of tropical Queensland, Australia, yet little is known of its population structure. A targeted survey of the Canarium labiatum population on Green Island, located near Cairns, Queensland, was conducted on 12 August 2015. Ninety adul...

Male courtship signals often stimulate female sense organs whose sensitivities originally evolved under natural selection. In classic female choice models of sexual selection, females can benefit from increasing their sensitivity and responsiveness to male stimuli; but in sexually antagonistic models, increased female sensitivity or responsiveness...

In the Colombian orb-web spider Leucauge mariana (Taczanowski, 1881) (Tetragnathidae), both sexes contribute to mating plug formation. Males of this species show a conductor hook that could be involved in providing stability to the mating pair and used for mating plug removal. The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between the shape of...

Chemically defended animals often display conspicuous color patterns that predators learn to associate with their unprofitability and subsequently avoid. Such animals (i.e., aposematic), deter predators by stimulating their visual and chemical sensory channels. Hence, aposematism is considered to be "multimodal." The evolution of warning signals (a...

In Leucauge orb-web spiders, females form mating plugs, which play a part in cryptic female choice after they evaluate male performance during courtship and mating. Our aim was to assess sexual behavior and mating plug formation of Leucauge mariana from Colombia (CO). We carried out mating trials to describe in detail courtship and mating behavior...

Poca información existe sobre el ciclo de vida y número de mudas por los cuales pasa Tityus columbianus (Thorell, 1846) para alcanzar la madurez. En este studio, el número de estados de desarrollo posembriónico fue determimnado usando herramientas de morfometría geométrica y a través de las ecuaciones clàsicas de Pzibram & Megusâr (1984). Los análi...

Despite the urban and landscape impact caused by Drymoea veliterna (Druce, 1885) (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) larvae on trees of the genus Croton L. (Euphorbiaceae) in the Neotropics, there is no information about its biology and reproductive traits. In this study, we describe the life cycle and reproductive traits of this species. Its life cycle las...

In nature, females of several animal taxa exhibit considerable variation in their mating system, and this variation involves different balances of costs (e.g., energetic, reproductive) and benefits (e.g., increased net reproductive rate of the female, increased longevity). Many studies have focused on discovering the potential advantages and disadv...

El ecosistema de páramo es uno de los más sensibles al cambio climático y a la alteración en el uso de suelo. Estos cambios generan modificaciones fisiológicas en las especies y en sus ciclos de vida; aumentan la posibilidad de las plantas de ser atacadas por organismos patógenos y de perder la oportunidad de colonizar nuevos nichos. Recientemente...